The Best Wi-Fi Hotspot
Many people who need only occasional Internet access for their own laptop can simply tether to their phones as necessary, but Verizon’s Jetpack AC791L provides a more stable connection and can handle multiple computers and tablets for extended periods. It has been our pick since early 2016, and it remains our favorite because it gets almost 20 hours to a charge, supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and can even recharge your phone in a pinch. Those features put it ahead of newer models like the Jetpack MiFi 7730L, which gets only about 12 hours of run time. But it’s really the network that matters most here, and Verizon’s is the best for LTE. If you’re not on Verizon, it’s worthwhile to open an account if you need a hotspot, since the regions where Verizon is strongest tend to be the same places you can’t easily find free public Wi-Fi. (For more on why Verizon’s network is superior, read our guide to the best cell phone plans.)
If you’re already an AT&T Mobile Share subscriber, and you like its coverage in the places you go, consider the ruggedized AT&T Unite Explore. It’s cheaper to add a line to an existing Mobile Share plan than to start a new one with a different carrier, and AT&T’s network is good enough in most places for you to avoid spending extra for a new plan with Verizon. The Unite Explore lasted 22.5 hours in our battery-life test, offers almost all of the Verizon hotspot’s network options (it’s a similar model from the same manufacturer), and matches its competitor’s device-charging capability.
The current hotspots for T-Mobile and Sprint can’t compete with either the AC791L or the Unite Explore, even setting aside those services’ weaker networks. Besides, their unmetered-data plans both allow 10 GB of tethering a month at a lower cost than the comparable deals from AT&T and Verizon.
Why you should trust us
I’ve been covering the wireless industry since about 1998, including dozens of reviews of devices and services for the Washington Post, Discovery News, PCMag, Boing Boing, VentureBeat, CNN Money, and others, and I now cover telecom policy issues for Yahoo Tech and answer telecom questions in a USA Today Q&A column. I also maintain The Wirecutter’s guide to wireless carriers and prepaid and resold wireless service.
I’ve relied on wireless broadband during business travel since at least 2008—back when that required plugging a PCMCIA card into my work laptop—and I’ve alternately praised and cursed Wi-Fi hotspots from all four of the nationwide wireless carriers in the ensuing years. The list of saved wireless networks on my 2012 MacBook Air features over a dozen different hotspots.
Who is this for, and is your smartphone enough?
Just about every smartphone available now can act as a hotspot, sharing your data signal over Wi-Fi with your tablet, laptop, or other devices. So if you need a hotspot only for short periods, such as when you’re sending some files from your laptop or browsing a few websites, your phone will suffice. But if you travel a lot and have business income on the line, a dedicated hotspot in your gear bag can help maintain a constant, consistent connection. A dedicated hotspot is more reliable than tethering from your phone, and the device has a much longer-lasting internal battery and lets you keep your phone (and its battery) free for other things.
In recent years, more generous tethering options—now up to 10 GB on the unlimited-data plans of all four carriers—have made the case worse for a stand-alone device that you have to buy and manage separately.
“Because all smartphones have hotspot options now, and most smartphone plans come with at least some tethering, it’s hard to justify dedicated hotspots for anyone except businesses anymore,” PCMag lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan told us when we quizzed him in November 2015 for an earlier version of this guide—back when tethering allotments were a lot stingier than today.
A dedicated hotspot is more reliable than tethering from your phone.
But, Segan added, hotspots retain some key technological advantages over smartphone tethering: “Hotspot mode burns battery, dedicated hotspots have better Wi-Fi range than phones do, and they have the option for external antennas to boost their signal quality.”
If you already have an AT&T or Verizon hotspot that you purchased within the past two years, such as last year’s pick or runner-up, you’ll be fine skipping this version. But if you’re still holding on to a hotspot from 2013 or earlier, you should consider upgrading: Odds are, you’re missing options such as 5 GHz Wi-Fi and the ability to create a guest network, and your hotspot’s battery life is probably a lot worse than what today’s models can offer.
How we picked
Reliability is the reason to buy a hotspot, starting with the network behind it. If you don’t have a good, fast connection, you’ve lost the whole point of a hotspot. To that end, Verizon remains the best national network overall for 4G LTE connectivity and holds our recommendation for the best wireless carrier for most people. PCMag thought so, too, awarding Verizon first place in its 2014, 2015, and 2016 “Fastest Mobile Networks” reports. Verizon has also taken first place in RootMetrics’s automated nationwide testing in each of its past six half-year surveys. “Verizon is the undisputed leader in terms of coverage and network reliability,” writes Dave Andersen in RootMetrics’s most recent nationwide-results summary report. “Indeed, Verizon’s network reliability results were the strongest among all carriers at the metro, state, and national levels in the second half of 2016.”
AT&T isn’t far behind: RootMetrics places it in second in each of those surveys, and in some parts of the US, it surpasses Verizon. But the odds are better that Verizon will give you a solid connection wherever you land in the US.
“Verizon is the undisputed leader in terms of coverage and network reliability.” —Dave Andersen, RootMetrics
T-Mobile’s and Sprint’s respective networks have improved, especially in urban regions, but not enough to displace AT&T or Verizon for this specific purpose. You may find that T-Mobile in particular offers a faster connection in some cities than Verizon, but while everybody’s network gets a little weaker outside of urban areas, Verizon’s is least likely to suffer that problem. Meanwhile, it’s easier to find good Wi-Fi in or near a city—at a coffee shop or restaurant, at a library, in a shopping area, and so on—to fill in a coverage gap in your carrier’s network than it is outside those areas. Furthermore, T-Mobile’s and Sprint’s hotspot offerings have shown little progress in the past two years.
On a similar note, many prepaid hotspots are cheap because they rely on those second-tier networks for their data connections. If you’re willing to accept slower connections and less reliable networks in trade for a smaller bill, you should just stick with tethering from your phone.
Battery life is the second most important spec. Ideally your hotspot should be able to last a full workday and give you plenty of breathing room. While 10 hours advertised run time is the absolute minimum worth considering, the best hotspots can last over 20 hours straight.
Beyond those basic requirements, anything you consider should have dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, USB hardwired tethering for crowded areas, and support for the latest LTE technologies.
Some lesser features that you should consider, but aren’t absolutely necessary, include a touchscreen interface, guest-network options for sharing your connection, and the ability to double as a USB battery pack for your phone in a pinch.
We don’t endorse trying to save on costs by going with a lower-end device. Despite eliminating two-year contracts for phones, AT&T and Verizon still oddly insist on your committing for two years with a hotspot. Going cheap means losing important future-proofing specs such as support for faster LTE Advanced service, guest networking, and dual-band 802.11ac.
How we tested
We’ve tested three rounds of hotspots since 2014, each time testing in multiple cities across the country. We tested our main recommendation in late 2015 in Washington, DC, in the San Francisco Bay Area, and elsewhere, and we tested two other models in early 2017 in Washington, DC, as well as in Houston and Austin, Texas.
Measurements with the Speedtest.net site and app informed our decision, but we mostly focused on network reliability and coverage, with the battery life and usability of each hotspot as secondary considerations. We tested each model with a 2012 MacBook Air, an iPad mini 4, a Nexus 5X, and a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (in earlier rounds of testing, our Windows 10 machine was a Lenovo ThinkPad X120e).
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